Transfer Excels For Men’s Basketball

After the last game of his senior season of high school basketball in Utah in 2018, Ross Reeves thought that would be the end of his basketball career.

Now Reeves, a redshirt freshman transfer, has found himself not only playing collegiate basketball but is one of the top contributors on the Chaminade University of Honolulu men’s basketball team that is 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific West Conference. The 6-foot-4 guard has started each of the six games that CUH has played thus far and leads the team in points (18.2), steals (1.8), 3-point shooting (.455), and field goal percentage (.507).

“He’s a really good defender, and he’s got a knack for stealing the ball,” Chaminade head coach Eric Bovaird said. “He’s just an all-around good player. He can shoot the 3. He can drive. He can pass. He can play multiple positions. He’s kind of an ideal player for our style, being able to shift him around to different areas and let him do different things. He’s just a good all-around basketball player.”

In the 2021-22 season, Reeves was redshirted and was not available to play. Bovaird, who is in his 12th year as head coach, said that having him available to be on the court this year has been great. 

“There were a lot of times in practice last year that he was our best player,” the coach said. “Having him sit out hurt us all year long. But we’re excited. … We knew how good he was, and it’s really nice to see him showing it out there on the court.” 

Once the Utah native graduated from Orem High School in 2018, Reeves received some interest from smaller schools but chose not to go due to a lack of interest on his end and the location of the schools. So instead, Reeves set out for his church mission as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

It was not until the last month of his two-year mission in Las Vegas that he started to reconsider his position with basketball. He considered signing with a college in Oregon where his friend was going to play, but Reeves changed his mind again after he got home. 

Snow College, a junior college in Ephraim, Utah, reached out and offered a walk-on spot to the return-home missionary. So he took the offer and was reminded of his love for the game. 

“I forgot how much I loved it,” Reeves said. “I took two years off so when you don’t do something for so long you forget. So once I got into Snow I knew I could definitely get back into this.”

After a successful year at Snow College, Reeves knew he wanted to continue his career, and that is when he revisited his dream of playing in Hawaii. This dream sprouted from the fact that both his dad and older brother played at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. And growing up, Reeves would watch the Maui Invitational, a tournament that Chaminade would host in the preseason. 

Reeves committed to Chaminade in July 2021 and his girlfriend at the time, and now wife, Courtney, was right next to him. 

Reeves also said that he doesn’t feel as if he’s missing out on the typical college experience because had that experience during his first year at Snow. To him, his marriage has made his experience with college basketball less stressful and he said his wife Courtney is his “number one.” That keeps things in perspective for him. 

“Court is my best friend, and I’d rather be with her than go out and stuff like that,” Reeves said. “It’s been so fun. I think it actually helps because when I’m frustrated or something like that, I have someone to go home to and talk about. She’s played sports too so she gets it.”

The next men’s basketball game will be Saturday at the Academy of Art. It will be the first game of the team’s four-game road trip in Northern California. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. Hawaii time.